How To Bounce Back From Rejection Like Michael Jordan

Have you been shot down by your longtime crush? Perhaps you were informed you didn’t get that dream job? Maybe you were even told you couldn’t sit at the cool lunch table.

The popular adage states that there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. I’d suggest adding a third one: rejection.

Rejection is like that whip and nae nae song. We hear it way more than we would like and once it is in our heads, we think we will never be able to get it out.

Not only is rejection an emotional pain, but to our brain, it feels like a physical pain. fMRI studies have shown that when we experience rejection, the same areas of our brain become activated as when we experience physical injury.

And not only that, but social pain has been shown to be more easily relived than physical pain. So not only does rejection hurt like a black eye, it makes us feel like we will get punched in the face any time we think back to that moment.